Financial Aid FAQ

We highly recommend you use your browser's search feature (CTRL-F) to search for terms on this page (e.g., try searching for "National Merit"). Then again, browsing the page may give you answers to questions you haven't yet considered asking. (However you approach it, please know that, if your questions lead to more questions beyond this page, our admissions and financial aid team is ready to help.)

Questions on the minds of many admitted students

The priority deadline to apply for financial aid at Lawrence is March 1, though we do encourage you to submit the FAFSA and the Lawrence Application for Financial Aid as soon as possible after January 1. Provided that all the necessary financial aid forms have been received by the time you get a positive admissions decision from us, you should expect a complete financial aid package within about three weeks of hearing your admission decision.

Good news: you didn't do anything wrong when you completed the FAFSA and, if you provide the Financial Aid Office with the right documents, this shouldn't delay the processing of your financial aid. The U.S. Department of Education selects FAFSAs for verification to ensure that Pell Grant and/or Subsidized Stafford Loan recipients have completed their application correctly. Lawrence can verify the accuracy of your application IF you complete all of the financial aid application steps. If you enroll at Lawrence, you'll need to satisfy the U.S. Department of Education verification requirements, which can be found on the Verification page

You should wait until after you’ve officially decided to attend Lawrence. After that, you should accept or decline your loan by July 1. Also, we think you'd like to know that ALL gift aid (scholarship and/or grant) is already accepted. It's only your loans that are in an "offered status."

You are not required to accept your entire financial aid package. You can accept parts of it and decline or reduce other portions if you choose. Again, know that your grant and/or scholarship(s) are already accepted.

The first step is to accept or decline your loan(s). You can do this in Voyager or by returning the Financial Aid Acceptance Form that was mailed to you.

If you accept a Federal Loan (Stafford or Perkins), you will need to complete two additional steps for each loan: 1) Entrance Counseling and 2) a Master Promissory Note. Both of these steps are completed online. Links to these requirements are available on the following Financial Aid page. The Financial Aid Office will send you an email in June as a reminder about these steps.

A Federal Direct PLUS loan is a non-need based loan program that is available to parents. The maximum amount of the loan cannot exceed your total cost of education minus other financial aid received. The interest rate is fixed at 7.9%. Repayment of both principal and interest begins within 60 days after full disbursement of the loan for the period of enrollment (beginning of Spring term), or repayment can be postponed until after your student graduates or is no longer enrolled at least half-time. In order to apply for a PLUS loan, you must complete the PLUS Loan Request online at www.studentloans.gov.

There are annual Stafford Loan limits based on your year in school: $5,500 for freshman year, $6,500 for sophomore year, and $7,500 for junior year and senior year. To learn more about these annual limits, the Financial Aid Office has put together a Stafford Loan Overview page.

Lawrence strives to meet the institutionally demonstrated need of all domestic students who apply for financial aid. Assuming that your family's financial situation does not change dramatically from one year to the next, your financial aid award will remain relatively constant for all four years you attend Lawrence. The configuration of that award may vary, however, as Stafford Loan eligibility increases.

Right around July 15th, the Financial Services Office (similar in name to the Financial Aid Office, but different) will send an email to your Lawrence email address when your billing statement is ready. Payment for Fall Term is due on August 15th. For a comprehensive overview of billing and payment, click here for more information.

When you arrive on campus in fall, you’ll be responsible for applying for the various jobs in which you’re interested. Available positions are posted online, and you will need to apply directly to the department or office with the job opening. There are many student employment positions available on campus—students at Lawrence have jobs within academic departments, in administrative offices, in the library, with food services and many more. Students may earn up to the amount listed in their financial aid packages, and how many hours they work will depend on the hourly wage of the job(s) they have. (Wages for employment are paid by check bi-weekly and are not credited to your bill.) Click here for more information about campus employment.

You are encouraged to apply for outside scholarships from other sources such as foundations, service organizations, churches and businesses. You should notify the Financial Aid Office about the details of any outside scholarships you have won. Federal regulations (34 CFR 673.5(b)) require colleges to take into account any resources they know about or can anticipate a student receiving when awarding and disbursing aid. Outside scholarships may affect your eligibility for need-based Federal Loans and/or Federal Work-Study (also need-based). No need to worry: Federal Work-Study will be replaced with Campus Employment (pretty much the same thing) and the Subsidized Stafford Loan can be replaced with an Unsubsidized Stafford Loan. Only in very rare cases will the Lawrence University Grant be reduced (i.e., less than 0.5%).

National Merit Finalists who have officially listed Lawrence with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation as their first-choice college will receive a $2,000 Lawrence University National Merit Scholarship in addition to any other Lawrence-sponsored scholarship they have received (with the exception of the National Achievement Scholarship).

If you have a financial situation that you feel was not sufficiently addressed by the FAFSA, please complete our Special Circumstances Form and submit it to the Financial Aid Office along with the appropriate documentation.

The amount of money spent on books varies from student to student, and from term to term, depending on what type and how many books you need for each class you’re taking. When putting together your financial aid package, the Financial Aid Office estimates that most students will spend approximately $900 per year on books.

You will need to start repaying your Stafford Loan 6 months after you're no longer enrolled at least half-time (less than 9 units). Repayment of the Perkins Loan begins 9 months after you fall below half-time enrollment. Your enrollment is confirmed each term. Your enrollment status is considered less than half-time if you withdraw, take less than 9 units, or graduate (we hope it's the last one!).